Harry Potter and the Summer in St Mary's Mental Hospital
by The Purple Sheep
Summary: Harry Potter has just finished his fifth year at Hogwarts when he is unexpectedly dumped at a mental hospital by his relatives. Accused of having mental health problems such as anorexia, self-harm and compulsive lying, will Harry be able to escape? Or will he be trapped there for the rest of his summer forced to endure pointless therapy sessions?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

As Harry Potter got in the car with his relatives after his eventful fifth year at Hogwarts, he immediately knew something was wrong. He could see the change in his relative's expressions that made him think he was going to have a very different summer experience this year. His Aunt Petunia was staring straight ahead and hadn't looked at him at all or acknowledged him. Dudley kept on giving him smirking glances and his Uncle wore a particularly nasty grin on his face. Harry sighed and looked out the window. Whatever was to come, he knew it couldn't be worse than what had happened at the ministry. His felt a pang in his heart as thoughts of Sirius came into his mind. He still felt the overwhelming guilt of his death as he remembered him fall through the veil. He gave his head a little shake as he decided he had already been experiencing the ministry again in his nightmares, he was not going to think about it when he was awake too. Besides, if anything bad were to happen at the Dursley's, he could always write to Hermione and Ron. Unfortunately he didn't exactly get the chance.

He frowned in confusion as he realised he had no idea where they were.

"Uh, where are we going?" he asked Vernon.

"Be quiet, we have something to take care of first before we're going home," he replied.

Harry remembered, of course the main rule in the Dursley's house still existed, keep quiet and don't ask questions. Dudley gave him another annoying smirk and he turned his head to look back out the window. The country side was flying past and he had absolutely no idea where they were going, he knew one thing for certain though, they were nowhere near Privet Drive. After about another half an hour of driving, the car started slowing and he could see a massive building up ahead surrounded by a high brick fence with barbed wire at the top. The car drove up to big metal gates and Vernon wined down the window to talk to the security guard. He showed him a piece of paper, then the guard nodded and the gates started opening. Utterly bewildered, Harry again forgot the rule and said,

"What the hell is going on? Where are we?"

To his annoyance, he was ignored and he rolled his eyes. He missed the plaque on the wall as the passed through the gates reading 'St Mary's Mental Hospital'. They drove up to the front entrance of what seemed to be some kind of institution.

"Get out boy," Vernon growled at Harry, who was still looking confused.

"Where are we?" Harry repeated his question showing no intention of moving.

"This is the place where you'll be staying for these holidays. Petunia and I have decided we no longer want to put up with you. We thought this place was fitting" he said with a slight grin.

"What makes you think I'm going to stay in this place whatever it is?" He asked him maddeningly.

"Ahh… right on cue" Vernon said looking to the front doors.

Two males were walking out wearing what looked like doctor's scrubs. Vernon got out and shook both the men's hands.

"Are we having a problem getting him out?" one of the men said.

"Don't worry, its completely normal for there to be some anxiety amongst patients about leaving their family, but everything will be fine, if worse comes to worse we can use force." The other one said.

"Yes a little force may do him some good," Vernon smiled.

Harry heard what had been said and didn't like it one bit. Vernon was sending him to some kind of hospital? Whatever it was he would not be safe here and with that thought he pushed his wand further up his sleeve hidden out of sight. He thought he could try and talk himself out of it and got out of the car.

"Look I think there's been some sort of mistake, Uncle, take me back to Privet Drive." He said.

"Hello, Harry is it?" the first man said, "don't worry we'll take care of you here there's no need to be afraid. Your Uncle believed that you would benefit from staying here and has already signed the papers."

"Yes this is going to be your new home for the summer while we work through your issues." The second man said.

Horrified, Harry turned to look at Vernon and said angrily, "What is this about? You're dumping me in this place? Dumbledore won't be happy!"

"Harry, you need to be here, where you can receive the care you need. Your uncle is doing this with your best interests at heart, and I'll ask you to follow me now please." The first man said.

Vernon grinned evilly and nodded, "Yes boy you heard what they said, go with them now!"

Harry could hear Dudley laughing in the car behind him and he didn't know what to do. He could use magic to get himself out of this situation but that would involve risking the statue of secrecy again and he would probably get arrested. He thought of Hedwig who was probably just arriving back at Privet Drive to an empty house and he sighed. What the hell was he supposed to do? He ran.

But no sooner than he had run 10 metres, one of the men had caught up to him and tackled him to the ground. He admitted he hadn't noticed the big muscles hidden underneath the uniform.

"Sorry Harry, but will you please accompany me inside by yourself or will I have to use force?" he asked him whilst laying on top of him.

"No!" Harry shouted at him.

Suddenly, the man pulled out a needle and stabbed harry in the arm with it. Shocked, Harry glared up at his now fuzzy face as he felt his world go into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Harry awoke slowly in a bed to a white fuzzy room. He could make out a blurry bedside table and reached out to where he assumed his glasses were. He put them on his face and groaned as he sat up. He winced as he rubbed his arm and remembered the nurse who had obviously injected a drug to knock him out. Suddenly feeling more alert, he looked around the empty room as he realised where he was. He cursed and jumped out of bed when he realised he had to get out of here. He ran over to the door only to find it locked.

"Damn it!" he said quietly. He looked down and felt relieved when he was still wearing his jacket with his wand tucked up his sleeve. He wondered whether to use his wand to unlock the door or not, when he question was answered for him. The man that had tackled him to the ground opened the door and smiled at Harry.

"Hello, how are you feeling? I'm sorry we had to use force to get you in here but that's the way things are done here when people resist." He said looking Harry up and down.

"You had no right to do that!" Harry said angrily.

"Ahh but Harry I think you'll find I did. Your uncle signed papers that admitted you here under conditions in which we have the right to do whatever we think is necessary to ensure your safety."

"And tackling me to the ground was keeping me safe?" Harry retorted.

"Well no, but we now have temporary custody over you Harry." He said.

He walked around Harry and sat on his bed.

"I'm sorry I should have introduced myself. I'm Dr Thomson, I work here as one of the psychologists. However you can call me Robert. Shall we talk about why you're here?" he asked him gently.

'Psychologist', Harry thought, they dealt with mental illnesses , that must mean he was in some weird mental hospital. "No!" Harry yelled and ran out the door that had been left open. He found himself in a long corridor with many numbered doors on each side. He definitely had to get out of here. He chose to run right and reached the end of the corridor, finding stairs and a lift. He decided to take the stairs and started running down them two at a time. He could hear yelling coming from behind him which only made him run faster. After two flights of stairs, he reached the bottom and realised he must be on the ground floor. He skidded along the floor in his bare feet and ran into what looked like a front reception type area. He ran towards the glass automatic sliding front doors but as soon as he reached them, he heard an "Oh no you don't laddie" in his ear before another needle was injected into his arm. Just like last time, he collapsed to the floor in pain as everything went black.

He again woke up in the same bed in the white room. He moved his arm to get his glasses again except to his horror, found he couldn't. He tried moving his arm again only to find it was strapped to the bed! He tried sitting up but his chest also had a strap going across it, preventing him from moving, and he could feel straps across his legs too. Disorientated by not being able to move or see clearly he called out, "Hello" to the empty room. What the hell had he gotten himself into? Or more realistically, what had Vernon gotten him into? He heard the door open and close and he called out again, "Who's there?"

His glasses were placed gently on his face and the room came into focus. Once again, Dr Thomson was there and Harry frowned at him.

"Can you undo these stupid straps?" He said through clenched teeth, not really wanting to ask for help but not wanting to stay in the bed.

"I'm sorry Harry but I can't do that. The other doctors and I have decided that it's best for you to remain in bed until we can be sure you won't run away or harm yourself or anybody else." He said.

"Harm myself or anybody else?" Harry repeated in confusion.

"Yes Harry, now let's talk about why you're here." He said giving him a concerned look.

"Oh for god's sake. My uncle dumped me here because he doesn't want to deal with me for the summer. I'd appreciate it if you could get me out of here." He said trying to sound calm.

"No Harry, your uncle put you in here for you to get better and to receive the treatment for you to get better. You're in a mental hospital and this is the room where you'll remain. I'm sure you'll get used to it here and make some new friends with the other patients. I think you'll find they're not so different than yourself." He said.

"Oh really?" Harry snarled, "Cause I'm sure there is nobody else who is trapped in here for no good reason. I am completely sane thank you very much and I don't belong here, can't you see that?" he said getting angry.

"Harry there are many other patients in here who feel the same way, but you must remember, you are not alone! I'm not questioning your sanity, we just have some mental health problems we need to work through and then you'll be back to normal." He said trying to comfort Harry.

"Ok, then what it is wrong with me then? What are my 'issues'" Harry asked sarcastically.

"Well I'm sure they'll all come to light under therapy and I don't want to upset you with what might seem like accusations, but your uncle has told me of some of the problems you've experienced at home in the past." He said.

"Just tell me what you think" Harry said annoyed from his position on the bed. He didn't like having to look up at the doctor standing over him.

"Well Harry," Dr Thomson began sitting down, "Your uncle told us about the problems with not being able to get you to eat. Starving yourself is one of the symptoms of an eating disorder called anorexia and it is not uncommon amongst teenagers like you Harry. We will be working through this trying to get you to eat healthily again and put on more weight as you are very underweight."

"What!" Harry yelled. "This is absolutely ridiculous! He was the one who always starved me" He said.

"Well that brings me to another thing. Your uncle discussed his concern that you were a compulsive liar Harry. Now in no way am I suggesting that you are, but already I have witnessed you tell a lie. There is no way that your uncle starved you Harry, he told me about his many fruitless attempts to get you to eat only to be refused. He also showed me a letter from your school that was consistent with what he said." Dr Thomson said.

Harry remained silent for a minuted while he processed what the doctor had said. Obviously his uncle had made up some stupid letter from a fake school about him. The thought enraged him, anything he tried to tell the Doctor would be dismissed as a lie thanks to his uncle.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"Yes, just a third thing which is very serious, self-harm Harry. We know that it is possible you may have depression and we will be  
working through this issue in therapy with me and group sessions in an effort to help you get better." He replied.

"I'm sorry? But that is completely ridiculous, where is the evidence of that anyway?" He said outraged, clenching his fist.

"Well there is the scar you have on your forehead Harry and the scars on you hand that read 'I must not tell lies'. We do not have to discuss them now, but do not think we won't be talking about them later." He said looking pointedly at his head and then down at his fist where the scars from where Umbridge had made him carve in his hand were gleaming under the fluorescent light.

Harry stared astonished at him, "The scar on my forehead is a result from my parent's murderer who tried to kill me as a baby, not my own doing! And on my hand, well that was from a teacher…"

The doctor shook his head, "Harry I know the writing on your hand is not from a teacher and your aunt and uncle found you cutting the lightning bolt on your head yourself a few years ago. Furthermore I know your parents died in a car crash, there is no use lying to me. " he sighed.

Harry realised the bit about Umbridge doing it to him sounded ridiculous, especially to a muggle, but what was this rubbish about him giving himself the scar on his forehead? He banged his head back on the pillow in frustration.

"Hey watch it Harry, do not make me need to restrain your head too." He said warningly.

"Whatever," Harry said closing his eyes. He needed to work out his escape. He hoped that the order would realise he wasn't at privet drive and would come to his rescue, but would they even be able to find him? He had no way of contacting them and he didn't even know where he was.

"Look Harry, I can see you're a bit upset about your predicament. I shall leave you in peace for a while and then I'll come and bring you dinner in your room. If in a couple of days, you show good behaviour, I will consider removing the restraints and you will be able to eat meals in the dining hall with the other patients. I'll leave you now Harry." He said as he walked out the door.

Harry growled in annoyance. Maybe if he were to comply with whatever they wanted him to do, they would 'release' him quickly and he could go to the burrow for the rest of the summer. He certainly didn't want to go back to the Dursley's after what they did to him but he suddenly thought about his stuff. Where was his trunk and broom? Surely they didn't leave his broom here but what about his other belongings? He could see another door in the corner of the room which he assumed was a bathroom and also a small chest of drawers on the other side of the room underneath a winodw. Hopefully his stuff was in there somewhere but he hoped that they hadn't been through all of his things. If they had, they would have found some unusual items that he would probably be expected to explain. He thought about the number of magical textbooks he had in his trunk and if they had seen those, it would give them reason to believe he truly was crazy. Even if he knew he couldn't use his wand, he still felt safer with it hidden up his sleeve close by him. He tensed both his arms and tried pulling them against the restraints, but it was no use. He didn't know what to do. He was completely trapped at the mercy of the stupid doctor. After about an hour of just lying there, his door was opened again by Dr Thomson and a female nurse carrying a tray of food.

"Harry it's dinner time, is there going to be any problems with getting you to eat?" Dr Thomson asked him.

"No of course not, I'm perfectly fine!" Harry answered impatiently.

"Right well I'll just undo your arm restraints." He said. The doctor lifted back the sheet and blanket on top of him and undid the arm restraints. He then stepped back and pressed the button on the wall that made the back of the hospital bed fold up electronically so that Harry was sitting up. Dr Thomson then pulled the tray across the bed so the nurse could place the food down. Harry was fully annoyed at his situation but he couldn't help but laugh at the plastic fork and knife that didn't look like it could cut through anything.

"Is there a problem?" Dr Thomson asked him.

"No, I'm just admiring the cutlery." Harry said.

"Well we don't want to risk any unnecessary harm coming to our patients." He replied. "Thank you Nurse Sophie, we will be right now." He said to the nurse and she nodded and left, closing the door behind her. Dr Thomson then sat down on the chair next to his bed.

Harry assumed he wanted to make sure he would actually eat his meal after the accusations about him having 'anorexia'. Harry had heard about it before and he admitted he was pretty skinny, but he had always been like that. Whether he was built that way or whether it was from the small amount of food he received when he was at the Dursley's he didn't know. Probably both, he guessed. He picked up the cutlery and began eating his food that didn't taste nearly half as good as Mrs Weasley's home cooked meals or the feasts at Hogwarts. Dr Thomson smiled at Harry eating his food and made a note on his clipboard. Harry rolled his eyes as Dr Thomson congratulated him after finishing his meal completely.

"Well done Harry, I'm proud of you for eating all of your food!" he said.

"Right, sure. Do you think you could let me out so I can uh go to the loo?" Harry asked, humiliated.

"Yes, hold on one moment." He replied. He moved Harry's tray to the side of the bed and then undid the restraints on his chest and legs. "The bathroom is through that door. Oh and Harry, take these pyjamas to change into."

Harry got up and stretched his legs. He then went to the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He took care of his business and then took out his wand from his sleeve and placed it by the sink. He got changed into the hospital blue striped pyjamas that looked similar to the Hogwarts Hospital wing ones. He put the wand back up his sleeve as he thought that was the best place for it. He came back out to the main room and placed his clothes on the chest of drawers, disappointed to find the doctor still there.

"Ok now Harry let's make this easy for us both and just get back into bed." Dr Thomson said.

"Uhh, and if I refuse?" Harry asked.

"Well I could resort to using force again, but I'm sure you don't want that to happen again Harry?" the doctor replied.

Harry felt his arm which was still tender from the two injections.

"I thought not; now please get into the bed. Tomorrow you will be able to leave the room and find your bearings around this place," the doctor said.

Harry grumbled and laid back down in bed. He protested when the doctor started to put the restraints on him again but before he could do anything, quick as a flash, the doctor had secured him to the bed again with practised ease. He pulled the sheet and blanket back up on Harry and took his glasses off his face, placing them on the bedside table. He pressed the button on the wall that made the bed go back down horizontal and then left the room, turning out the light and closing the door behind him. Harry sighed in frustration, imagine if Ron or Hermione saw him obeying a stupid muggle doctor like this and letting him tie him up. The doctor mustn't be very good at his job if he can't even tell when someone is mental or not because Harry thought it was obvious that he wasn't any of the things his uncle said he was. He had to find a way out of this place tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_Harry held his wand in his long pale fingers that resembled spiders. He looked up and saw his reflection in the mirror: pale flesh, red eyes and a snake like appearance. He turned around to one of his death eaters and cried 'Cruico!' Suddenly he was the one on the floor yelling out in pain, but he couldn't move. His scar was burning and his body felt like it was on fire. Something whispered "Bow to death Harry" in his ear._

Harry woke up yelling and struggling against the restraints. He was being tortured and his scar was on fire. He opened his eyes and remembered that he was strapped to the bed in a mental hospital, he was not Voldemort, he was not being tortured, he was Harry, and he was trapped. Everything was blurry but he could see light streaming in his window. The door opened and Harry could make out a female nurse. She turned on the light and put his glasses on for him.

"Hello Harry, I'm Sophie, one of the nurses here. I'm sorry we didn't get to properly meet yesterday. Are you ok? You look a bit pale, how did you sleep?" she said. She looked to be quite young. Maybe he would be able to get her on his side and help him get out of here.

"I'm fine…" he mumbled. It was not a pleasant feeling not being able to move at all, especially after the dream he had just had.

"If you say so, anyway, I'm in here to wake you up and check on you, and in about half an hour, I'll bring you your breakfast. Would you like me to give you a rundown of what will happen today?" She said.

"I suppose so," he replied. Hopefully there would be a chance to escape this madhouse.

"Ok well after breakfast at 8, you will receive a tour of the hospital and at 9, you will have your first proper therapy session with Dr Thomson. That will go for an hour, and then you will receive a general health check up by either me or one of the other nurses, just to make sure everything is ok. Then you will come back here until lunch and in the afternoon at 2.30, you will go to your first group therapy session which I'm sure you will be very excited for to make new friends." She said smiling.

"After that, you will just be back in here until dinner. The times you spend in your room will turn into free time once we've established that we can let you out of your restraints without supervision. Any questions?"

"Err, yes actually. Is my stuff in here? Did my uncle leave my school trunk with me?" he asked looking pointedly at the chest of drawers.

"Well yes, we've unpacked it for you in the drawers and I do believe Dr Thomson wants to talk to you about some of your err… items," she said.

Brilliant, Harry thought. If they had been through his stuff, there were going to be lots of questions about his books and everything. What was he supposed to say? They would never believe him if he told them the truth and he couldn't do that anyway without getting in trouble for telling muggles about the wizarding world. Maybe he would tell them it was just fun joke books or something. He hadn't said anything for a while as he was thinking this and Sophie frowned slightly at him and said, "All right Harry I'm going to leave now, I'll be back in about 10 minutes with breakfast."

"Whatever," he said and she gave him a disapproving look before walking out the door. She seemed to be very patronising and Harry didn't like it one bit.

10 minutes later, she returned with a tray of breakfast for him. She undid the arm restraints for him and pressed the button on the wall to make him in a sitting position. She then pulled the tray that was attached to the bed in front of him and then placed the breakfast tray on top of that. "There you are, I hope you enjoy," she said.

"Thanks," Harry said and began eating. It was plain cereal and a piece of cold toast: nothing like breakfast at Hogwarts. Sophie sat down on the chair next to the bed watching him eat closely.

"So are you meant to supervise me eat or something?" he asked her taking a sip of the orange juice.

"Yes, many times patients suffering from eating disorders have tried to hide food so they could pretend that they were finished. That's why the hospital brought in a new policy to supervise people at mealtimes whether they were in the dining hall or in their own room," she said.

"Right. Well just so you know, I don't have an eating disorder, my Uncle made it up," he said taking a big bite of his toast.

She looked at him frowning slightly, "Well we'll see, maybe you're just trying to get my trust so you can be left alone. But you should know that eating disorder or not, meal times are supervised." She said.

"Ok fine, hospital policy. I just thought you'd be interested to know that there's nothing wrong with me, not mental health problems. It's all a big lie." He said. He didn't know why he was telling her this, maybe he hoped she would believe him and would help him get out. She would eventually find out anyway surely. After these therapy sessions it would become clear that he had no mental illness.

"Well if you say so Harry but don't forget I have read your file," she said.

"And what does it say,"

"Eating disorder, self-harm and possible depression and possible compulsive liar," she said. "Harry there's nothing wrong with needing a little help, there's no need to lie and say that you're fine." She said giving him a concerned look.

"Whatever. Anyway I'm finished now," he said.

She stood up and took the tray away and let him out of the restraints.

"Do you want to go and use the bathroom and get dressed?" she said, then she left the room.

He got up and gave a big stretch. It was not comfortable to be lying in the same position all night. He went over to the chest of drawers and opened the top drawer. This was where all his clothes were, including his Hogwarts uniform, Quidditch uniform. He laughed and pulled out some clothes to wear including a jacket so he could keep his wand hidden up his sleeve. The thought of the muggles inspecting his robes was laughable. He pulled out the second drawer and found all of his school books and homework piled in neatly. In the third draw were his quills and spare bits of parchment, including the marauder's map! Also in here was his invisibility cloak. Why hadn't he thought of it before!? If after the tour of the place, he could work out an escape plan, including getting past the gate and fence using his invisibility cloak! He had been so stupid to not have thought about it before. His escape plan was sitting right in the drawer the whole time. But he realised with a pang that what was missing was the broken bits of the two-way mirror Sirius had given him. He went into the bathroom to get changed and when he came back into the room Sophie was there waiting for him.

"Hey do you know where my mirror is? It's missing," he asked accusingly.

"The broken bits of mirror in your school trunk do you mean? Well they've been confiscated," she said matter-of-factly.

"Why?" he asked.

"Well we can't allow our patients to have sharp objects! It's too dangerous, how are we supposed to make sure you don't use it to harm yourself or other!?" she said

"Oh come on that's ridiculous, I just need it its very personal. You haven't thrown it out have you!?"

"No, we're keeping it safe locked away somewhere and it won't be returned to you until you leave. I'm sorry Harry but I can't give it to you but I can assure you it's safe. Now shall we go on with the tour?" she said.  
He groaned and said, "Fine".

"Good, now follow me. We will be joined by one of the orderlies to keep you in check," she said.

He rolled his eyes but followed her out the door anyway. They turned left and started to walk down the corridor. He turned and looked back at his door, he was number 28. At the end of the corridor they were joined by a man in the scrubs who Harry was sure was the man who greeted him when he first got here.

"Hello Harry, I'm Jack, nice to meet you properly." He said smiling and shook hands with Harry. As he did he looked down at the scars that read "I must not tell lies" on his Harry's hand before looking back up to Sophie.

They entered the room at the end of the corridor which turned out to be some kind of hang out room.

"This Harry is called the chill-out room, or as some patients refer to it as the freezer," she said with a smile. There were lots of bean bags scattered around the room with teenagers sitting in them. There were bookcases surrounding the room on the walls and a few chairs and tables with computers. In one corner of the room was a TV which had several patients watching it from their spots on the floor. On some chairs and tables sat some nurses and presumably doctors supervising. Sophie was true to her word, everywhere they went there were adults constantly watching the patients. Harry thought there seemed to be nowhere that was completely private. A few of the teenagers looked up at Harry and whispered to each other. He was used to people staring at him, but he didn't think it was because they knew who he was this time.

"So this is a nice room isn't it?" Sophie said smiling at Harry.

"Sure," he replied sounding disinterested.

"Ok then, moving on," she said.

They backed out of the room and walked down the other end of the corridor to the lift and stairs. To the left of the lift was another corridor with more rooms. They entered the lift and Sophie pressed the ground level.

"Floor 3 and 4 are floors like this one, each with their own chill-out space. The 1st floor is where the joint rooms are. Each floor has its own medical centre which is what the other corridor was," She said.

They reached the ground floor with a 'ding' from the elevator and stepped out. They had entered into a reception type area with a corridor to the left and big double doors on the right.

"On the left are all the offices of the doctors and nurses who work here. And through these doors is the cafeteria where all the meals are served, unless you have to eat in your room," she said looking at Harry as they entered the cafeteria which had heaps of chairs and tables placed throughout the room. Unlike Hogwarts, where there were four long tables that stretched across the hall, in here there were many smaller square tabled that seated eight scattered across the whole room. There were many patients in here still eating their breakfast that looked at Harry when they entered the room. Just like before, a few of them started to whisper.

"Ok so breakfast is served at 8, lunch at 1, and dinner at 5." She said.

"At 5? That so early!" he said nonplussed.

"Yes it is, and lights out is at 8. Sometime you may have a session after dinner, if not, then its free time until bedtime," she said.

"Now it's nine o'clock, it's time for your first therapy session with Dr Thomson. I'll lead you to his office." She said.

They walked back out of the cafeteria and walked down the corridor and stopped at one of the doors that read 'Dr Thomson'. Sophie knocked, and when a 'come in' was heard from inside the room, she opened the door and told Harry to go in. He walked into a room, closing the door behind him. It had a desk with a computer on it and sitting behind the desk on the chair was Dr Thomson. To the right were two couches and a small coffee table.

"Ahh, Harry, take a seat on one of the couches and make yourself comfortable," Dr Thomson said smiling at him.

Harry sat down and waited patiently for the doctor to join him. This was going to be interesting.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Now Harry, how are you feeling today?" Dr Thomson asked sitting down on the couch opposite Harry.

"Fine," he replied crossing his arms.

The doctor chuckled and said, "You know 'fine' isn't really a feeling?"

Harry ignored him and looked at the clipboard the doctor was holding. He supposed the doctor was going to make notes in it. Dr Thomson saw him looking at it and said, "Don't worry about this Harry just ignore it, I may make a few notes from time to time but that's just for my benefit."

Harry ignored him still and looked to the wall where there were some photographs of presumably the doctor's friends and family. The doctor turned around to see where Harry was looking and smiled.

"I can see you're admiring my photographs. Do you have any of your friends and family? We could put them up in your room if you like," he said.

"Yes, but they're in a photo album," he replied. There was no way that he was going to hang up his magical photos that moved on the wall. The muggles would be shocked, besides, he wasn't planning on staying here much longer.

"Well maybe next time would you like to bring it to show me perhaps?" he asked kindly.

"Err… no. They're private sorry," he said. He couldn't tell him that the reason he couldn't show him the pictures was because they moved.

"That's fine I understand. So tell me Harry, how do you like school? Your uncle said how you've been going to boarding school since you were 11 years old. What's it like?" Dr Thomson asked.

"Um, it's great. Better than mug- I mean normal school."

"Who are your friends?" he asked.

"My best friends are Ron and Hermione. Ron has a big family and all his brothers and sister go to the same school and we're good friends too." He said. "Hermione is very smart, and loves reading books. She's the brightest witch, I mean student at school." The doctor looked up from his clipboard when Harry said 'witch' and then made a note. Harry, slightly panicked continued on and said, "and well Ron has been my best friend since we met on the train to school. He's funny and hates homework."

"And how would you describe yourself?" Dr Thomson asked him.

"Umm, I don't really know," he mumbled.

"Well tell me what your favourite subjects are at school then."

How could Harry answer this? He supposed potions was like chemistry, history of magic could just be described as history, but what about Charms, Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts? How could he possibly translate these into muggle subjects? Maybe DADA was similar to phys ed or sport.

"Umm, I like playing sport," he said somewhat lamely.

"What kind of sport do you like?" Dr Thomson asked.

Harry thought, what was Quidditch similar to, soccer perhaps?

"I play soccer mainly, in the school competition," he said.

"Well that's great Harry, outside we have an area for patients to play in and I'm sure there must be a soccer ball in our equipment somewhere," he said.

Great, Harry thought. Now he would have to show off his non-existent soccer skills.

"Do you do well in your classes Harry? Do you like to get your homework done on time?" he asked.

"Kind of, my grades are all right," Harry said.

"Tell me, you must get up to some kind of mischief in a boarding school, do you play any pranks on anyone?"

"Yeah, just sneaking out at night time and stuff," he answered.

"Do you get into any fights? Is there anybody you don't like?" the doctor asked.

"There's Malfoy, we get into fights. He's a Slytherin. That's one of the Hogwarts houses. Full of… never mind," Harry said. He had been about to say death eaters but of course he couldn't possibly explain to the doctor that slytherin house was evil. He didn't even know why he was telling him about his life. He supposed he was going to be leaving soon and the doctor still had no idea about Hogwarts or what school he went to so it didn't really matter.

"What are the fights about?"

"Mainly because he insults me, my friends or my parents," Harry said frowning.

"Do you miss your parents Harry? Do you remember them at all?" the doctor asked gently.

"Yes of course I do, but I don't really remember them, I was only one when they were murdered," Harry trailed off thinking about Voldemort.

"Harry do you feel anger about the crash? You know many people die in car accidents every week, sometimes there is nothing we can do about it, but you can't blame anybody when it was an accident," the doctor said.

"But it wasn't an accident. They were murdered, by the same person that's been trying to kill me my whole life," Harry said.

"Harry do you ever feel anxiousness, or paranoia that someone is watching you or trying to kill you?" the doctor said looking concerned.

"Well there is someone trying to kill me, so yes," Harry said. He realised he was digging himself a hole as the doctor scribbled something down on his clipboard.

"How do you get along with your Aunt, Uncle and Cousin?" Dr Thomson asked.

"I don't" Harry replied simply.

"And why is that do you think?"

"Well because they've always treated me badly. They never liked my parents and therefore they never like me. I'm just a burden to them," Harry said.

"Well I'm sorry you feel that way Harry because I know they care about you very much, that's why they sent you here, to help you get better." Dr Thomson said.

Harry scoffed. "If you say so," he said.

"Do you feel jealousy of Dudley perhaps?" Dr Thomson asked.

"Dudley has been spoilt his whole life, but no I am not jealous of him, he's a fat pig," Harry laughed, thinking of his fat cousin with Aunt Petunia calling him 'Duddykins'.

"Are you afraid of being fat like your cousin Harry? Is that why you haven't been eating?" Dr Thomson asked.

"No!" Harry yelled defensively. "I will never be fat like him because I never got fed as much as he did and in case you haven't noticed, I have been eating."

"Harry your uncle told me of many times when they sat you down and tried to get you to eat something and you wouldn't," Dr Thomson said.

Harry remembered back to before he went to Hogwarts and the many nights he spent in his cupboard hungry because he had been denied food. "Well he's lying," He said quietly.

"Harry I'd like to ask you about the scar on your hand. You received it this year. How?" the doctor asked.

"I told you before, it was given to me by a teacher as punishment," Harry said.

"I'm sorry Harry but I don't believe you. Perhaps your subconscious made you write it to try and stop you from telling lies," The doctor said.

"What you honestly believe that I would purposely carve that onto my hand?" said Harry.

"Yes Harry, there's nothing to be ashamed of, just open up to me and tell me why you did it and we can make sure it won't happen again. Are you scared of it happening again?" the doctor said looking concerned.

"No because the teacher isn't at school anymore, she was uh… fired. That's the truth," Harry said.

Dr Thomson looked resigned and wrote something on his clipboard.

"Harry what about the scar on your forehead? Your Aunt found you cutting it in front of the bathroom mirror a couple of years ago. Why did you do it? Were you feeling sad? Angry? Upset? Did you want attention?" The doctor asked.

As if right on cue, his scar twinged painfully and automatically he reached up to touch it.

"Look you have no idea what you're talking about," Harry said angrily. "My parent's murderer tried to kill me as a baby and failed and I was left with this scar. No I don't want attention, although I have received plenty of it at school. My uncle has made this whole thing up!"

"Harry in the letter I received about your eating habits at school, they also mentioned you had suffered a loss. Sometimes when people lose someone important to them, they fall into a depression. Do you think it's possible that you might be feeling depressed Harry? Not eating, anger and sadness are common symptoms of depression." Dr Thomson said.

Surely the doctor couldn't be talking about Sirius. There was no way that Dumbledore would have written to him, but how did Vernon know that his godfather had died? Maybe Dumbledore had written to him and Vernon included it in his fake letter.

"Harry? Towards the end of the school year your godfather died? I believe you were quite close with him," the doctor prompted.

"Yes," Harry whispered.

"Was he a father figure for you Harry?" The doctor asked gently.

"Yes," Harry said whispered again.

"I'm very sorry for your loss Harry, important people have died in your life and it can be hard to deal with. Sometimes people resort to self-harm to deal with the pain they feel. How have you been coping with the grief?" Dr Thomson said.

Harry looked up as he could feel his eyes stinging as though about to let tears fall. "I don't know" he said hoarsely, and then cleared his throat. "Err, are we done yet?" he asked.

"Not quite," replied Dr Thomson making a note on his clipboard. "I wanted to ask you about some of the books that we found in your trunk. Very, unusual books…"

Harry just looked blankly at him. What was he supposed to say?

"Magical books? With spells and potions? Did you buy these fiction books to create your own fantasy world?" the doctor asked him.

Still Harry didn't answer. If he denied it, Dr Thomson would call him a liar, but if he told the truth, the doctor wouldn't believe him.

"Umm, maybe" he said, not sure what else he could say.

"So I guess you like to use your imagination. Do you have dreams or visions about it?"

"Sometimes," Harry said playing along.

"So are you a wizard Harry?" the doctor said smiling. Harry laughed internally. He could rearrange that sentence to be 'you're a wizard Harry' which is exactly what Hagrid told him on his 11th birthday. Harry didn't say anything and the doctor wrote one final note before standing up.

"I think that's all for today. I do believe you have a medical check-up now, I'll just page Sophie," the doctor said and typed a message on his pager to Sophie. One minute later, she knocked on the door and Harry left to go to his 'check-up'.


End file.
